Too close to call for Giants coach Stone

were really aggressive and tough.

“But then it comes down to who can keep their composure on the day, and Hull FC know all about that having been there last year and winning the Cup.

“Wigan, too, have been there plenty of times (and won when the two met in 2013) so it’s going to be very close. I can’t really predict.”

Castleford prop Grant Millington has signed a new three-year deal with the Super League club.

Millington, 30, is now set to stay with the Tigers until the end of 2020.

“The club has been fantastic to me and my family. We love it here at Cas and this is home for us,” Millington, who has made more than 150 appearances since joining from Canterbury Bulldogs in 2012, said on www.castlefordtigers.com.

“I don’t think I could play for any other club. The club has transformed on and off the pitch since I joined and I’m proud to be a part of that.”

Tigers head coach Daryl Powell added: “Grant Millington has been outstanding again this season and I am delighted that he has agreed to extend his contract to remain with the Tigers.

“His skill sets are second to none as a front row player and he has been integral in the way we have played the game over the last few years.

“I am confident that he will continue to improve and help to drive our standards for the remainder of this year and beyond.”

Castleford, who have already secured the League Leaders’ Shield, return to action against Huddersfield on September 1.

Warrington have made Tonga international Sitaleki Akauola their first signing for 2018.

The 25-year-old Penrith Panthers prop has signed a two-year deal subject to receiving a visa with Warrington, who are close to securing their Super League status after winning their first three fixtures in the Super 8s Qualifers.

Akauola, who made the first of 21 appearances for the Panthers in 2016 after joining them from Wests Tigers, is expected to be a straight replacement for Ashton Sims.

Warrington coach Tony Smith said: “We are looking forward to Sitaleki joining us.

“He’s certainly got impact. He’s a big man who will bring plenty of attributes to us and into our forward pack. It’s a very good signing.

“He’s keen to play in Super League and I think he’s just the right player at this time.” LONDONER Tony Clubb will put 15 months of heartache behind him on Saturday when he runs out in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup final at Wembley.

Wigan’s former England international thought his career was about to be brought to a premature end earlier this year when he was told he would have to have a kidney removed.

That followed horrific surgery last summer in which he had to have his throat sliced open and a metal cage inserted in his spine.

In between, the former London Broncos forward experienced the personal tragedy of losing his father Michael to cancer.

Clubb was close to his father, who had witnessed his debut for England and both his professional clubs, but knows there will no shortage of family support when he plays in his first Wembley final.

“The Challenge Cup is massive for me, being from down south, and it’s the one that I’ve not won,” he said. “I’ve played in every one bar this, so it will be a very proud day for me.”

Clubb, who was born on the Isle of Dogs near Canary Wharf and began playing rugby league with the Greenwich Admirals, missed last year’s Cup semi-final defeat by Hull as well as Wigan’s Grand-Final triumph over Warrington with a neck injury that kept him out for five months.

“It was a bad one was that,” he recalled. “I went for a low tackle and I got crunched up.

“It stopped the oxygen to my brain and it knocked me out. I lost a bit of feeling in my arm and I went for a scan and they told me I had a disc pressed on my spinal cord.

“I had to have my throat cut and a metal cage put in my spine. That will be in there with me for life.”

Undeterred, Clubb recovered in time to help Shaun Wane’s men defeat Cronulla in the World Club Challenge in February, but his world was turned upside down in April when he discovered one of his kidneys was out of order.

Clubb said: “When they said they were going to have to take it out, I thought, ‘Well that’s it. I can’t play without one of my organs’. I told my wife that it could possibly be the end of it. I had a few days when I thought of so many different things.”